Pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act

Trevor Davis

It’s Time to Give America a Raise – Pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act

Americans who work hard should be able to make a living. Working full-time in a minimum wage job pays $7.25 per hour. That’s just $15,000 a year for full-time work. A breadwinner for a family of four earning the minimum wage would be a full $7,000 below the federal poverty line. That’s not right.

Most minimum-wage earners work for big corporations. These corporations keep giving their CEOs bigger bonuses every year, but then claim they can’t afford to pay their employees. That’s not right, either.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act would raise the federal minimum wage in steps to $10.10 an hour, closer to what these workers need to support themselves and their families. It would also give tipped workers their first raise since the 1990s. Finally, it would index the minimum wage to inflation, so that workers no longer fall behind because of dysfunction in Washington.